MovieScore Media takes its listeners back to ancient times with SyFy’s fantasy show Olympus, scored by composer Rich Walters. Created by Nick Willing, who previously ventured into the same world Jason and the Argonauts, Olympus follows an unnamed Hero on his journey as he transforms from a fresh-faced and raw young man to a ruthless leader of man who can become a match for the gods themselves. Starring Tom York, Sonya Cassidy, Sonita Henry and Matt Frewer, the 13 episodes of Olympus’ first season adapts some of Greek mythology’s most famous stories with a promise of bringing more classic tales alive in future continuations of the story.

Olympus is a Greek tragedy that also skirts along the boundaries of a visceral horror piece” explains composer Rich Walters. ”Creator Nick Willing was instrumental in regards to the direction of the music and I was given the opportunity to take a contemporary approach while having the advantage of utilizing a live orchestra. I used dissonant choral layers in the styling of György Ligeti fused with deep biting sawtooth synth elements, which I augmented again with the strings section doing their best to push the envelope of what’s possible in the spectrum of tremolo orchestrations. I also found that the events also welcomed deep, dark synth tones with long, sombre orchestral chords and melodies derived from instruments such as dulcimers, harps, lyres and alto vocalists.

Based in Los Angeles and Vancouver, composer Rich Walters gained his musical education at Capilano University, majoring in music theory, composition and arranging. He started out his career as a music editor, working on dozens of projects, including television series (Just Cause, Continuum), TV movies (Nick Willing’s Alice) and feature films (Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium). As a composer, his work ranges from television shows (Riese, Dussault Inc.) and movies (Ring of Fire) to providing additional music to this year’s sci-fi extravaganza Chappie. His list of accolades include a Leo Award, 2 Emmy nominations and 2 Canadian Screen Award nominations. -MOVIESCORE MEDIA